The typical electrical cable is a bundle of two or more wires, each of which has an elastomeric coat. The bundle of coated wires is encased in a tough sheath. A frequent chore involved in installing such electrical cables is the requirement to strip the sheath, usually about four to six inches from the end of the cable. For many years, the electrician used a knife to peel the sheath from the cable.
Using a knife to peel the sheath without cutting the coating on the wire required considerable care and effort and led to the development of a number of stripping tools.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,673,486 to Brown discloses a stripper having a rotatable cutting head with a cutting blade carrier block that pivots between an operative and inoperative position. The cutting head forms annular slits which form annular slugs that are removed after the wire is withdrawn from the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,7132,249 to Liversidge discloses a main body having a pair of clamping jaws and a pair of stripping jaws and an actuator to effect linear sliding motion of the stripper jaws.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,873 to McClellan discloses a stripper including a plurality of replaceable blades and an indented guide surface having a slot having a width selectable according to the size of the wire.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,079,105 to Hollingsworth discloses a tool having a blade carrying portion attached to a first portion of a handle and guide portion. The guide portion includes a channel defining a longitudinal axis and a blade. The blade is pivotable between a first cutting direction and a second cutting direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,330,839 to Amrein discloses means for compressing the exposed shielding to deform the shield to assume a donut shape. A cutting unit is movable transversely to a longitudinal orientation and shears off circular sections of the shielding portion.